Alberta Seniors
Deserve Better.

 

Decades of underfunding in seniors' care have spelled disaster over the last two years of the pandemic for Alberta seniors. We're done waiting. We've had enough of this callous disregard for seniors in our province. We need solutions now.

 

TAKE ACTION

PRIORITIES FOR ALBERTA SENIORS

 

Every dollar that goes into profit is one that’s taken away from quality care for seniors.

We need to get profits out of seniors care.

 

Seniors deserve a comprehensive continuing care system. When we or our loved ones need care,
we’re often faced with a confusing labyrinth of referrals and departments.

We need to build a system that is easy to access and navigate.

 

Employees at seniors facilities are stretched thin. Understaffing means burnout for the staff,
and decreases in quality care and attention for us and our loved ones.

Working conditions are care conditions. We need legislated staff-to-patient ratios to ensure quality care.

 

The Alberta continuing care system offloads the cost of essential items onto seniors and their families.

We need a system that cares for everyone, based on need, and not ability to pay.

 

News

EDMONTON — Ahead of the provincial budget, Friends of Medicare and activists within the disability community are once again calling on the Alberta government to improve and properly fund home care. Without immediate investment, our home care system will continue to fail the 127,000 Albertans who rely upon it.


EDMONTON — Today, after considerable delay, the Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services updated Albertans on their plan for continuing care, unveiling a new logo and a new name: Assisted Living Alberta. This announcement continues the government’s chaotic restructuring of health care in Alberta. 


EDMONTON — Public Interest Alberta and Friends of Medicare are raising the alarm following Premier Smith’s private remarks today at the Alberta Continuing Care Association’s Annual Conference. The Premier championed the explicit privatization and “uberization” of continuing care, signalling further restructuring and for-profit care in the immediate future.


EDMONTON — Beginning today on the International Day of the Older Persons and continuing all week, Public Interest Alberta and Friends of Medicare are releasing harrowing stories and videos from seniors and Albertans who are experiencing the current crisis in seniors care. They are standing with seniors to send letters to the provincial government calling for minimum staffing hours so that Albertans receive the care they deserve.



Seniors, health care advocacy groups concerned about continuing care changes this fall


EDMONTON – The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) Women’s Committee launches an awareness and letter  campaign Strike a Change for Alberta Seniors, as Alberta’s Health Minister continues to roll out changes to Continuing Care.



EDMONTON — The first full week of June each year marks Alberta Seniors’ Week. It is a chance for Albertans to show appreciation for Alberta’s seniors and all that they contribute to our province. Friends of Medicare is marking this Seniors’ Week by continuing to call for the return of an independent Seniors’ Advocate, for properly funded home care, for Alberta to get on board with universal Pharmacare, and for the Alberta government to stop their attacks on Continuing Care.


EDMONTON — Friends of Medicare, and activists within the disability community are at the legislature today to call on the Alberta government to improve the province’s home care system. Our online petition containing more than 33,000 names of individuals who have signed in support of improved home care funding and services in Alberta will be tabled in the legislature after Question Period

Following recommendations in the Facility-Based Continuing Care (FBCC) review, the UCP government has repeatedly made clear their intention to shift the delivery of Alberta’s continuing care services to include a greater proportion of care in-community. But while disabled Albertans, seniors, families and advocates have long called for an expansion to our home care system, we have seen no meaningful investment to support this shift in care delivery.